It's So Cold, Shuichi

Well, that's probably how it feels, right?

I was so focused on whether I'd be allowed to switch classes that I completely overlooked this point.

Damn it, Shuichi Kanda was a little annoyed that Ryuen had mocked him.

They'll get their revenge sooner or later.

However, it's only natural that Ryuen would notice...

Thinking of this, Shuichi Kanda smiled.

"There's nothing I can do. After all, I don't need to use 800 million points to get the students in my class to graduate from Class A. It's understandable that I might be a bit reckless in this matter."

Come on, let's hurt each other! You son of a bitch!

Of course, Ryuen wouldn't give up so easily, so the two left the Special Teaching Building while exchanging barbs.

At the building's exit, Kamuro and Ichinose were waiting. Compared to Kamuro's calm demeanor, Ichinose's mood was clearly somewhat downcast.

"Hmph, looks like you're in trouble. I'm not getting involved."

Seeing this, Ryuen wisely left, knowing that the two people weren't waiting for him anyway.

Are you angry?

Shuichi Kanda looked at Ichinose, who was in low spirits, and asked her this question.

No sooner had the words left her mouth Ichinose lunged forward, ignoring Kamuro who was present, and tightly embraced Shuichi Kanda.

Shuichi Kanda was slightly taken aback by Ichinose's sudden action, then gently patted Ichinose's shoulder to comfort her.

However, as the victor who had just won, Shuichi Kanda ultimately didn't know how to comfort her, because at this moment, any words of comfort from a victor to a loser were nothing more than boasting and sarcasm.

"Let's go, it's so late, let's go have dinner together."

"Hmm~"

Ichinose replied with a nasal tone, then released Shuichi Kanda, took a deep breath, and tried to return to normal.

"I understand." Ichinose released Shuichi Kanda, but still didn't let go of his hand. "I know I can't win as long as Shuichi's around, but even though we're competitors, I've still hopelessly fallen for him..."

I understand. You're worried that the students in Class B will look at you with reproach, right?

After all, in the eyes of most people, if their leader falls in love with the enemy they are ultimately going to defeat, it seems like a betrayal of the class, like they might be going easy on their team or something.

Shuichi Kanda nodded, understanding her troubles, though he didn't think so in his heart.

"Honami, if our classes were evenly matched, the students in Class B might have some doubts. But frankly, given the huge gap between us, the students in Class B should all know that you can't beat me, phew~!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Shuichi Kanda felt a sharp pain in his foot.

Looking down, Kamuro's foot stretched out from beside Ichinose and stomped hard on her foot.

"Um, it hurts a little, Masumi..."

"Serves you right! Who told you to be so tactless!"

"But what I said is the truth!"

"Who cares about you!"

Seeing the interaction between Kamuro and Shuichi Kanda, Ichinose suddenly smiled.

"You two stop bickering. I'll explain things to everyone in Class B."

However, although Shuichi Kanda was arguing with Kamuro, he was actually already thinking about how to resolve the issue.

Just as he felt from the beginning of the semester, other classes were not without talented individuals as well. Even among the students who eventually graduated from Class A, some were not as good as students from other classes.

That's exactly the problem that Shuichi Kanda wants to solve right now.

Fortunately, Nagumo, a second-year student, is working on a very interesting plan that might help Shuichi Kanda, or at least prevent Shuichi Kanda from having to start from scratch.

When Shuichi Kanda found that Kushida Kikyo was already waiting in the room. Because she had seen Ichinose use her room card to open her room door, she had pestered Shuichi Kanda to give her a spare key.

"Welcome back, Shuichi." Kushida wasn't surprised at all to see the three of them. "And I knew you two would come too, so I made tea in advance."

Seeing the four cups of tea on the Kotatsu, Shuichi Kanda was deeply moved.

Ah, not only Masumi, but even Kikyo has learned to share my burdens?

Chapter 273 It's so cold, Shuichi

In Shuichi Kanda's room, the four of them sat around the Kotatsu, each holding a teacup, drinking tea brewed by Kushida.

"Still thinking about the exam, Honami?"

It wasn't Shuichi Kanda who spoke, but Kamuro Masumi. At this moment, it wouldn't be appropriate for Shuichi Kanda, as the winner, to speak.

"Hmm? Hmm, I still don't know how to face the students in Class B."

Ichinose was still somewhat troubled.

"Why don't you just come work for Shuichi too?" Kamuro said, putting down his teacup and glancing at Shuichi Kanda. "Shuichi doesn't need those 20 million Private Points anyway."

Seeing the gaze that Kamuro was looking at him, Shuichi Kanda reacted quickly.

"Oh right, I can still afford 20 million Private Points."

It would be great if we could take this opportunity to bring Ichinose to our side, but Shuichi Kanda doesn't think Ichinose will come over.

The students in Class B trusted her so much; given her personality, she would absolutely never want to abandon them.

As expected, Ichinose shook her head, indicating her refusal.

"I... I can't abandon my classmates in Class B."

Kamuro wasn't disappointed. After all, she was just saying it casually; the key was to get the topic started. The silence just now had been rather suffocating.

"But you should understand that as long as Shuichi is still leading Class C, it will be very difficult for other classes to stand out."

"I know about that kind of thing." Ichinose put down her teacup. "But even so, I can't abandon the students in Class B."

"Bang!"

Ichinose couldn't stand Kushida's reaction any longer and slammed his teacup heavily on the table.

"So, Honami, are you trying to morally blackmail Shuichi? Do you think that just because you've won Shuichi's favor, he'll help the entire Class B students for your sake?"

Kushida's face was filled with displeasure, completely different from her usual angelic demeanor, Ichinose somewhat bewildered.

"I... I didn't think that way."

"You didn't really think that way, but Shuichi definitely won't see you looking so down, right? He'll definitely do something, am I right?"

The last sentence, of course, was directed at Shuichi Kanda.

Seeing Kushida Kikyo's unwavering gaze, Shuichi Kanda nodded helplessly.

He did indeed intend to do something, and of course, he wasn't only doing these things for the Class Ichinose, but also for the agreement he had previously reached with Ryuen.

However, all of this depends on Nagumo's measures. Not only that, but also on Nagumo's promise—that he will select a group of students from the lower-ranked classes to transfer to Class A before graduation.

Shuichi Kanda wanted to know if having 20 million yen would really guarantee an unconditional transfer to Class A.

After all, no one has ever done this before. If the school pulls some tricks, then there's no need to implement Ryuen's 800 million points plan at all.

"See? Shuichi may seem cold and aloof, but he's actually incredibly kind-hearted."

After receiving Shuichi Kanda's reply, Kushida said it as a matter of course.

"You have to say it!"

While it wasn't unusual for Shuichi Kanda to boast, Shuichi Kanda still felt a little embarrassed after Kushida said it out loud.

"I..."

Ichinose immediately felt ashamed, after all, Kamuro and Kushida were Shuichi Kanda, while Ichinose had not put Shuichi Kanda.

Actually, it's nothing. In fact, if you want to use Shuichi Kanda power to help Class B, I don't mind. It's my own woman, who else should I worry about?

As long as Ichinose doesn't do anything foolish like helping Class B that harms Shuichi Kanda's interests, then Shuichi Kanda won't care.

If Ichinose ever does something this stupid, then Shuichi Kanda will have to teach her a lesson.

"It's alright. After that, Honami, you can still lead Class B to continue fighting. However, you need to be prepared for failure. As long as I'm still leading Class C, I won't go easy on you during the Special Exam."

Shuichi Kanda made his point very clear.

"Honami, I can't abandon my entire Class C for you alone. I can't do that. On this point, we're on the same page, and you should understand that."

"Yes, I know."

Ichinose nodded, just as she didn't want to betray the trust of the students in Class B, Shuichi Kanda couldn't possibly betray the trust of the students in Class C for her sake.

Seeing Ichinose nod, Shuichi Kanda was very satisfied, and then his tone became cheerful.

"Let's leave that topic here. Now I'll tell you why you failed so badly in this exam."

When this was mentioned, Ichinose immediately acted like a good child.

"The biggest mistake Class B made this time was the choice of projects; you actually chose two projects that focused on academic ability."

Ichinose couldn't help but say, "But our class's academic ability isn't bad."

"That's right, your class's average academic ability is indeed quite good; almost half of the students score above 80. But the top students in other classes are no less academically capable than you."

"Take Class C for example. Although there are many students with poor academic performance, there are also quite a few top students with excellent grades. Several of them ranked in the top ten of the grade in the written test at the beginning of the semester."

"In academic tests, you have to pull out the top students to win, you don't disagree with that, do you?"

Ichinose was speechless after being confronted by Shuichi Kanda, and could only nod.

"Moreover, this is a free-for-all. In the worst-case scenario, a class will face three classes. If you choose academic ability, and the other classes also choose academic ability, then you can only win one game at most. If you're unlucky, you might even lose everything."

"Hmm..."

"So my advice for this exam is to only choose one academic subject. For example, I don't even want to choose any academic subject, because I know that Kamuro will be offering three academic subjects."

"But you still added the English test in the end." Kushida, somewhat puzzled.

"That's right. The purpose of adding the English test wasn't actually to win, but to appease the students in the class, especially those like Yukimura and Wang Xiaomei, who are only good at studying."

We need to make them feel that they can also do something for the class, so they can have a sense of accomplishment, just like playing Rock Paper Scissors.

However, for people like Yukimura and Wang Xiaomei who think they are good at studying, Rock Paper Scissors wouldn't satisfy them, since it's a game that anyone can participate in. That's why I arranged for them to take the English test, which only they could handle.

Similarly, it was the same with Basketball, except this time I didn't get to choose Basketball, and the exam was over.

Shuichi Kanda's words sounded like a dream to the three of them; they hadn't realized there were so many twists and turns involved.

After saying all that, Shuichi Kanda wanted to emphasize only one thing: the sense of participation.

In this exam, everyone in Class C participated, so they felt that they contributed to the victory and thus felt a sense of belonging.

This way, it won't be so easy to be turned by others. Although it seems impossible at the moment, what if it happens in the future? So, a sense of participation is really important.

It's like playing a 5v5 competitive game; the feeling of winning without being carried is different from winning through hard work.

Some people may like to win without effort, but I think anyone with a little ambition would want to build up their carry (C) or contribute their own strength to help us win.

These are all based on the same principle.

"Anyway, that's all I have to say. Honami, you can go down and think about it some more. There's no rush, spring break is almost here anyway."

If he continued, Kushida would probably be unable to suppress his smugness.

Today is March 22nd, and the third-grade graduation ceremony will be held in the next two days, followed by a two-week spring break, and then the second school year will begin on April 8th.

This period of time will give Ichinose a good chance to reflect on the pros and cons of this exam, and hopefully she can learn some lessons from it.

Otherwise, Shuichi Kanda might start singing. "Invincible~~ How lonely it is..."

"By the way, what are you planning to eat tonight?"

After talking for a while, Shuichi Kanda was also a little hungry. Since everyone was here, they could help him cook.

"Um, about this..."

Kushida raised his hand, as if he had something to say.

"What's wrong?"

"The students in Class C want to invite you to their victory celebration because we couldn't get through to you on the phone, so I'm actually here to call you."

Why didn't you say so sooner?

"I forgot, hehe!"